Using  Content  and  Humanization  to  Turn  B2B  Emails  into  H2H  Emails  Loren  McDonald  VP,  Industry  Relations  @LorenMcDonald  

Dear  Loren,    

The  rest  of  this  email    is  generic  …  

@LorenMcDonald  

Using  a  person’s  name  as  the  from  name  is  NOT  how  you  humanize  emails.  

@LorenMcDonald  

Anyone  know  who  Todd  Scholl  is?  

Oh,  OK.  

http://visionsfromtheroof.com/wp-­‐content/uploads/2014/06/BEING_HUMAN_being_human_us_18319766_1024_568.jpg  

Not!

Agenda  

Background    

Humanization  Tips   Email  Critique  

Q&A  

Today’s  Agenda  

Background  

@LorenMcDonald  

B2B?    

Is  it  really?  

Who  are  the  buyers?  

Buyers  End  user  

Manager  

Related  depts  

Influencer   Purchasing  

Legal  

Executive  sponsor  

Consultants  

What  do  they  have  in  common?  

Individual  People  

Employees  

Company  

Today’s  bumper  sticker  …  

Companies  don’t  buy  stuff  

People  do  

B2B:  Is  it  Really  

How  do  we  communicate  to  these  buyers?  •  Direct  mail  •  Webinars  •  Phone  calls  •  White  papers  •  eBooks  •  Videos  •  Conferences  •  Email  newsletters  •  Nurture  emails  

Who  engages  with  this  content?  

 -­‐  People  

So  how  does  Ann  Handley  define  quality  content?  

Human,  Quality  Content  

Utility  

Inspiration  

Empathy  

Source: “Everybody Writes”, Ann Handley

Helps  ease  pain,  burdens  and  with  making  decisions  

Creative,  data  driven,  well-­‐produced  

Relentless  focus  on  your  customer  

So  what  does  a    stinky  email    look  like?  

@LorenMcDonald  

Who  the  hell  is  Samantha  Braverman  

New  company  name  or  new  white  paper?  

Winterberry  Group  should  be  in  from  name  

Some  context  please  …  tell  me  

more  …  

-­‐  No  CTA  button  -­‐  Not  scannable  

-­‐  Pass  the  reading  glasses  -­‐  Where  is  the  white  space?  

So  then  what  does    “being  human”  look  like?  

Humanization  and  Content  Tips  

@LorenMcDonald  

CTAs  Must  Pop  and  Be  Finger  Friendly  

Old  Template:  •  Small  font  

•  Gray  link,  poor  contrast  •  Not  finger  friendly  

New  Template:  •  Larger  font  •  Links  “pop”  

•  Good  contrast  •  Reasonably  finger  friendly  

Single  Most  Important  Thing  You  MUST  Do  …  

•  Body  copy:  14px+  •  Headlines:  22px+  •  Buttons:  44px  by  44px  

Increase  

Font  Size  

Do  NOT  Make  Readers  Pinch  or  Squint  

Ignoring  the  punctuation  and  

awkward  sentence,  I’m  kind  of  intrigued  …  

Ouch.    

No,  I  didn’t  read  on.    

Please  give  my  eyes  a  break.    

-­‐  Color.  -­‐  Sub  head  -­‐  Imagery  

Ouch.    

No,  I  didn’t  read  on.    

Please  give  my  eyes  a  break.    

-­‐  Color  -­‐  Sub  heads  -­‐  Imagery  

Chunks,  Colors,  Images,  Contrast,  Scannable  

Litmus  Newsletter  Example  

•  Large  font  •  Scannable  •  Action-­‐oriented  

•  Strong  CTA  •  Specific  •  Inviting  •  Bullet-­‐proof  •  The  answer  …  

•  “2nd  step”  •  Just  enough  detail  •  Creates  the  problem  

•  Helpful  •  Educational  •  Resources  

Solving  the  problem  by  finding  a  free  resource  for  

YOU.  

Helpful  reminders  about  features  …  you  may  not  

remember  or  know  about.  

Simple  content  that  helps.  

It’s  a  party.    

Have  some  fun.    

Be  poetic.  

It’s  a  party.    

Have  some  fun.    

Be  poetic.  

Honest  Straight  talk  Empathetic  Responsive  

Honest  Straight  talk  Empathetic  Responsive  

Are  you  addressing  customer  pains?  

•  Pain  points  identified  •  How  to  ease  the  pain  •  Pain  points  identified  •  How  to  ease  the  pain  

 

It’s  a  lovely  irony  that  to  become  more  personal,  B2B  marketers  need  to  

become  more  automated.  

Collect  Information  on  Customer’s  Segment  

Give  Customer  Relevant  Information  on  Products  

Collect  Contact  Information  for  Consultant  

Prospect  put  into  nurture  track  based  on  which  eBook  downloaded.  

Prospect  put  into  nurture  track  based  on  which  eBook  downloaded.  

Prospect  put  into  nurture  track  based  on  which  eBook  downloaded.  

Personalized,  dynamic  content  based  on  lead  score,  past  purchases,  

bus  builder,  etc.  

Tweet  this:  Be  your  email  subscribers’  “content  Sherpa”  via  @LorenMcDonald  #MPB2B  #emailmarketing  

Make  CTAs  Jump  Off  the  Page  

Kind  of  hard  to  miss  …  

Weird Al’s Rebirth: Marketing Lessons That Rock

Pre-­‐header  Make  Over  

Weird Al’s Rebirth: Marketing Les … What Markets Can Learn From Weird Al | Bing Integrates Twitter

-­‐  Test  “editor  comments”  -­‐  2-­‐column  =  read  or  

ignore  -­‐  What  about  a  real  

person’s  name?  

Is  your  content  truly  

interesting  and  

engaging?  

-­‐  Don’t  just  use  the  beginning  of  the  article    

-­‐  Explain  why  a  subscriber  should  read  it  

-­‐  Highlights  -­‐  Pain/Opportunity  

-­‐  Value  gained  

Just  say  no  to  …  Click  Here  

How  cool  is  this?    

 A  behind  the  scenes  tour  of  how  the  

software  service  you  use  actually  works.  

OK,  preferably  a  human  face  …  but  let  them  know  who  you  are,  what  you  

look  like.  

Agency  team  profiles    

-­‐  Bring  your  company  to  life  by  profiling  customer-­‐

facing  employees  

Dynamic  and  automated  emails  don’t  have  to  be  

impersonal.  

Nice  transition  from  “joke”  

to  “solution.”  

Fun,  but  a  bit  aggressive  and  risky  

Nice  transition  from  “joke”  

to  “solution.”  

Being  Human  Takeaways  

@LorenMcDonald  

Takeaways  Show  empathy  

Have  a  conversation  

Tell  them  what  to  do   Make  it  easy  

Personalize  content  

Maybe  make  it  fun  

silverpop.com        ©  2014  Copyright  Silverpop.  All  rights  reserved.    

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